sAturday, March 15, 2025
Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, Argentina
Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, Argentina:
Track length: 2.99 miles / 4.81 kilometers
Free Practice 2: 10.10am – 10.40am – Dry Track
Air Temperature: 91.4F / 19.4C
Track Temperature: 66.9F / 24C
#79 Ai Ogura
P15 – Best Lap: 1’38.614 – Lap 9 of 12
Top speed: 212.94 mph / 342.7 km/h
#25 Raul Fernandez
P18 – Best Lap: 1’38.765 – Lap 10 of 11
Top speed: 210.08 mph / 338.1 km/h
Qualifying 1:
11.15am – 11.30am – Dry track
Air Temperature: 66.2F / 19C
Track Temperature: 75.2F / 24C
#79 Ai Ogura
P5 – Best Lap: 1’37.746 – Lap 6 of 6
Qualified – P15
Top speed: 212.38 mph / 341.8 km/h
#25 Raul Fernandez
P8 – Best Lap: 1’38.157 – Lap 8 of 8
Qualified – P18
Top speed: 212.38 mph / 341.8 km/h
Sprint Race:
3pm – Dry track: 12 Laps – 35.83 miles / 57.67 kilometers
Air Temperature: 68F / 20C
Track Temperature: 80.6F / 27C
#79 Ai Ogura – P15 (Race Points: 0 Championship Standing: 5 Total Points: 17)
Race Time: 19’55.949
Best Lap: 1’38.755 – Lap 6 of 12
Average Speed: 107.87 / 173.6
Top speed: 214.68 mph / 345.5 km/h#25 Raul Fernandez – P16 (Race Points: 0 Championship Standing: 20 Total Points: 0)
Race Time: 19’56.891
Best Lap: 1’39.068 – Lap 6 of 12
Average speed: 107.74 mph 173.4 Km/h
Top speed: 214.68 mph / 345.5 km/h
AI OGURA
- After narrowly missing direct entry to Q2 in Friday’s Practice – crashed at Turn 3 in the Q1 session and qualified 15th on the grid for the Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
- Started on row 5: Front: medium – slick tire & Rear: soft – slick tire
- Dropped to P20 on Lap 1 after a slow getaway. Upto 19th for laps 2 and 3 and then P16 by lap 5. Ran comfortably for 5 laps and then picked off team mate, Raul Fernandez for 15th and the checkers.
- First rookie over the line.
“In Qualifying in some parts of the track I improved a little bit from yesterday, but it wasn’t enough for Q2 and then I had a crash in Q1. In the Sprint race, the bike felt ok, but I had a bad start and in the first few corners I couldn’t gain any positions. After, I did another two or three mistakes, which were quite big. Then I was coming back to my rhythm but it wasn’t really fantastic. I gained a couple of positions but it was a difficult race and a difficult Qualifying. However, tomorrow there is another race with a much longer distance, so I’m looking forward to race tomorrow.”
RAÚL FERNÁNDEZ
- Qualified in P18 on the grid from Q1.
- Starting from row 6: Started on Front: medium – slick tire & Rear: soft – slick tire
- Good start to P15 on Lap 1. Back to P16 for laps 3 and 4 and then gained places to P14 by lap 5. Ran there for 4 laps and then fell back to 16th at the finish.
“It seems this is the weekend nothing works on the bike. We tried a lot of different settings, everything, but I didn’t feel good. For example, this morning, we improved the problem that I had yesterday in terms of sliding and the pace was quite good but we couldn’t stop the bike. I feel this is the track where we need to find a balance and compromise on braking and acceleration. But if we improve one thing, we lose in another area and in the Sprint, it was again almost the opposite thing. We need to work and try to find something because when you have this kind of weekend, you can improve a lot though. In terms of pace, we need six, seven tenths per lap, which we won’t find easily, but if we can make up three or four tenths, this would already help a lot. This is the main goal for tomorrow. We keep doing the maximum.”
“It was a difficult race for both, Raul and Ai, but we can take a lot away to learn from that. Ai had a difficult start and a little bit tricky first couple of laps. His pace was quite good. I think with a better position at the beginning of the race, he could have stayed closer to the top group in terms of pace. Also, we have something to improve and change on his setting. Hopefully this will bring us some benefits in tomorrow’s race. Raul never felt good on the bike here. He struggled with different things on the bike and we definitely need to improve something on his side as well. For both, Raul and Ai, I think we have some work to do tonight. We will try to improve both of their situations and bring it into tomorrow’s race where the target is to do better.”
- DAVIDE BRIVIO, TEAM PRINCIPAL
